ARMAGEDDON
By the evening of the 18th of September all troops were in readiness
for the attack. The 4th, 5th, and Australian Cavalry Divisions were
hidden in the orange and olive groves at Sarona, Selmeh, and Ludd
respectively. Their Horse Artillery batteries had moved up into
the line on the night of the 17th, to take part in the preliminary
bombardment.
Before daylight on the 19th the three divisions commenced their
march up to the front, the 5th Division riding along the sea shore,
at the foot of the high cliffs that fringe the coast in this part,
the 4th _via_ Jelil and El Haram, and the Australians on Tabsor. The
two first-named divisions sent dismounted pioneer parties from each
brigade forward with the infantry, to cut gaps in the wire, and to
flag passages through it for their brigades. Their horses were led as
close behind them as possible, and _liaison_ with their brigades was
maintained by gallopers.
At 4.30 A.M. the 400 guns concentrated on the front of attack opened an
intense fire on the Turkish positions, and the five infantry divisions
dashed forward to the attack.
The enemy was taken completely by surprise, and our infantry broke
through the Turkish lines with hardly a pause, the guns maintaining
a creeping barrage in front of them till they were through the first
position. About 50,000 shells were put over during the short time that
the bombardment and barrage lasted. At eight minutes past five the
whole of the front line was reported taken, and by eighteen minutes
to six the whole of the first position was in our hands, and our line
began to wheel to the right.
The 5th Cavalry Division, being sheltered from view by the high
cliffs of the sea shore, was able to ride right on the heels of the
infantry, and the 13th Brigade, acting as advance guard, was across
the Nahr el Falik by half-past eight, and riding hard up the plain
towards Mukhalid. A strong patrol from this brigade was sent forward to
reconnoitre Liktera.
The 4th Division, being in the open, had to wait till the El Tire-Nahr
el Falik line had been cleared, so as not to interfere with our
infantry, and thus did not cross the Falik till about ten o'clock. The
12th Brigade led through the enemy positions, but, as soon as they were
clear of the wire, the 10th and 11th Brigades came up on the left,
and the division advanced in line of brigade columns, each finding
its own advance guard. The Australian Division was then about five
miles farther back, passing through the enemy defences at Tabsor. Each
division had picked up its artillery on the way.
The advance of the infantry had been so rapid that there had been
very little time to collect prisoners, and as the cavalry advanced
they came across numerous small parties of Turks, wandering about
disconsolate and bewildered. They were quite disorganised, and did not
attempt to interfere with our troops, and later on were all gathered
in by 'mopping up' parties, and taken to the collecting cages in rear.
Farther east, disorganised parties of the enemy were streaming across
the plain towards Tul Keram, pursued by the 5th A.L.H. Brigade, but
these were out of sight of the rest of the cavalry as they crossed
the line. Looking at the strong defences as we passed through them,
deserted and quiet, it was hard to believe that, only a few hours
before, these positions had been held by a numerous and well-organised
enemy.
While the 5th Division was crossing the Nahr el Falik, the patrol
which had been sent on towards Liktera reported a small force of enemy
cavalry some two miles in front. This force at once made off in a
north-easterly direction, and was not seen again. About the same time,
a contact aeroplane reported some enemy infantry holding a position
near Birket Ata. The 9th Hodson's Horse, which was vanguard to the
13th Brigade, reached this position about half-past ten, and at once
charged and dispersed the enemy, taking about 250 prisoners and four
guns. Pressing on at once, the regiment reached Liktera, half an hour
later, where the Turkish Commandant surrendered at discretion, with his
small garrison. The first objective having thus been secured without
difficulty, the division closed up and halted on the line of the Nahr
Mefjir, to water and feed. A squadron, supported by two armoured cars,
was sent ahead to reconnoitre the Sindiane-Abu Shusheh track.
The 4th Division, which had been somewhat delayed finding a way through
the enemy's wire, crossed the Nahr Iskanderuneh about 11.30, and,
shortly afterwards, the leading regiment of the 11th Brigade, the 36th
Jacob's Horse, came under fire from some Turks holding a portion of the
enemy's entrenched position, just south of Zelefe. The regiment charged
immediately, and the Turks broke and fled, leaving 200 prisoners in our
hands. About the same time the 6th Cavalry, leading the 12th Brigade on
the right, encountered a small enemy rearguard near Jett. This force
was likewise promptly charged and dispersed. A marked map, found on a
prisoner captured here, indicated that the enemy intended to hold a
line from Arara, through Kefr Kara and Kannir to Mamas, covering both
routes over the mountains. The 10th Brigade was, therefore, sent on at
once with an armoured car battery to seize the Musmus Pass, the rest of
the division remaining at El Mejdel and Tel el Dhrur to water and feed.
The Australian Mounted Division was ordered to halt for a time near
Jelil, till word was received that the infantry, advancing to the line
Hableh-Tul Keram, were progressing satisfactorily. This information
came in about mid-day, and the division was then directed by the
Corps Commander to push on at once towards the Nahr Iskanderuneh. The
advanced guard reached the river at ten o'clock at night, without
encountering any opposition, and the rest of the division, with the
advanced Headquarters of the Corps, got in about an hour later. Horses
were watered and fed, and the march was resumed at one o'clock in the
morning.
The two leading divisions had marched again about six in the evening.
The patrol from the 5th Division, which had gone ahead to reconnoitre
the Sindiane track, reported that it was unfit for wheels. The
divisional transport was, therefore, directed to cross by the Musmus
Pass, in rear of the Australian Mounted Division, the 15th Brigade
to remain at Liktera for the night, and cross by the Sindiane track,
with the artillery of the division, the following day. The rest of the
division, led by the 13th Brigade, reached Sindiane long after dark,
and was soon involved in a tangle of hills, with no defined track
visible, but innumerable, shadowy paths leading in all directions. Our
maps showed a fairly direct track, which had been reported by natives
as feasible for cavalry and light guns. Their information was, however,
merely hearsay, as we had not been able, before starting, to find any
natives who actually knew the track.
Fortunately the 13th Brigade had in its commander[24] an officer
who had had ten years' service in the Egyptian cavalry, and spoke
Arabic fluently. From time to time, during the night, he came across
a few Arabs from whom he was able to get some information. His long
experience of marching in uncharted country, and a natural aptitude for
finding his way, stood him in good stead, and he successfully led the
two brigades over the range in the dark, marching in single file most
of the time. Two squadrons were dropped at Jarak, as left flank guard
for the remainder of the Corps, while passing the Musmus defile.
The two brigades reached Abu Shusheh about half-past two in the
morning, and continued the march across the plain in the darkness,
crossing and cutting the Afule-Haifa Railway near Warakani, about
half an hour later. The moon was nearly full, and the light good. On
arriving at the foothills, the 14th Brigade halted till daylight, and
the 13th pushed on up the track _via_ Jebata and El Mujeidil, towards
Nazareth.
On nearing El Mujeidil, a native guide, who had been picked up on Mount
Carmel, stated that the place was Nazareth. Though feeling sure that he
was either mistaken or funked going any farther, the Brigadier decided
to seize the place. He directed the 18th Lancers to surround it, which
they did, and, having blocked all exits, sent a couple of troops into
the village. By now it was clear that it was much too small a place to
be Nazareth, but it was thought worth while to search it hurriedly, as
a result of which 200 sleepy Turks were dug out of a large house. The
brigade then passed on up the main road, the Gloucester Yeomanry taking
the lead.
Shortly afterwards the houses of Nazareth appeared in front, gleaming
white and silent in the moonlight. The advanced guard now halted,
and the troop leaders were given their instructions. The town lies
in a cup-shaped hollow, and straggles up the steep and rocky hills
surrounding it. The principal houses, in one of which the enemy G.H.Q.
would probably be located, are situated in the centre of the town
at the bottom of the hollow, and on the northern slopes. The only
information we had as to the exact location of G.H.Q. was that it was
near a big motor-lorry park. Two troops were directed to make for the
centre of the town, find the lorry park, and rush any big houses near
by. Others were directed to gallop on, and seize tactical points on the
northern slope, and block the roads leading north-east to Tiberias and
north-west to Haifa.
Just as day was breaking the regiment drew swords and galloped into
the town, causing the most indescribable confusion amongst the enemy
troops, mostly German, there. Liman von Sanders himself only just made
his escape in time. His housekeeper, whom we questioned later, declared
that, at the first alarm, he dashed down the stairs of his house and
out into the street in his pyjamas, and made off in a car along the
Tiberias road.
The brigade had some hard street fighting, after the enemy had
recovered from his first consternation, but the Germans and Turks were
driven out of the town to the north-east. Here, however, a number of
them got into some houses on the Tiberias road, and put up a good
fight.
Several machine guns, mounted in a big convent which overlooked
the centre of the town from the northern slope, made things very
unpleasant, and it soon became evident that a deliberate dismounted
attack would be necessary to dislodge them. Meanwhile the troops
detailed for the duty had found and entered the enemy G.H.Q. They
made a hurried search of the premises, covered by the rest of the
regiment on the north and north-east, and by Hodson's Horse standing
by, and seized all the more important documents. As soon as this work
was finished, the advanced troops fell back fighting, and the brigade
withdrew down the Afule road, taking with it 1200 prisoners. Before
leaving, our troops put out of action all the motor cars of the enemy
G.H.Q., and the lorries of the German lorry park. These were all
afterwards repaired and used by us. On reaching the plain again, the
brigade occupied Junjar, Tel Shadud and Jebata, holding the southern
exits from Nazareth.
The 14th Brigade was occupied after daylight clearing the north-western
portion of the plain of small parties of enemy troops, and entered
Afule later on in the morning.
The 15th Brigade, with the guns and transport of the division, left
the Nahr Iskanderuneh soon after dawn on the 20th, and marched by the
same route to Afule. The gunners had a very rough passage over the
mountains, and had to spend many hours making a roadway for the guns,
so that they did not reach the station till about eleven at night.
The 4th Division left the Nahr Mefjir about the same time as the 5th,
the 10th Brigade having gone on in advance to secure the Musmus Pass.
The 2nd Lancers and an armoured car battery, acting as vanguard,
entered the Pass, and reached Khurbet Arah without encountering any
opposition. They placed outposts covering the cross roads here, and
sent back a report to the 10th Brigade. Unfortunately this brigade had
lost its way in the darkness, before moon-rise, and was now somewhere
north of Kerkur. On learning the state of affairs, General Barrow
ordered the 12th Brigade up to the support of the 2nd Lancers, and
himself motored up to Khurbet Arah, and directed the regiment to push
on at once through the defile to Lejjun. This place was reached without
opposition about eleven at night, the 12th Brigade arriving some hours
later. The 11th Brigade, followed by the 10th, which had regained the
road, came in at five o'clock in the morning.
As soon as it was light enough to see, the troops commenced to move
out into the Plain of Esdraelon. They were none too soon. As the 12th
Brigade, forming the advanced guard of the division, debouched from the
defile, a Turkish battalion, with several machine guns, was deploying
in the plain below.
The 2nd Lancers were leading, accompanied by the armoured cars. Taking
in the situation at a glance, Captain Davison, commanding the regiment,
ordered the cars to engage the enemy in front with their machine
guns, supported by one squadron of his regiment. Taking the other two
squadrons with him, he galloped along a slight depression to the right,
and charged the Turks on their left flank. The two squadrons went right
through the enemy from left to right, killing forty-six with the lance.
The survivors of the battalion, about 500 in all, were taken prisoners.
The Turks fought well, firing steadily till they were ridden down, but
the rapid work of the cavalry gave them no chance. The whole action
did not take more than five minutes, and furnished a perfect little
example of sound shock tactics--movement and fire at right angles to
one another.
Had our cavalry been a few hours later, this battalion would have
been at the defile at the top of the pass, and might have caused a
delay that would have been fatal to the success of the operations. The
battalion came from Afule, and had been ordered to cross the mountains
and move down the coast to the support of the enemy right wing. The
Turks knew that their line had been broken on the coast, but they had
absolutely no idea that our cavalry were through the gap.
Without a pause the 12th Brigade poured out of the pass and cantered
across the plain towards Afule. The leading troops charged into the
station at eight o'clock, capturing the place with little opposition.
A squadron from the 14th Brigade (4th Division) rode in from the
north about the same time. The garrison of the place having just been
disposed of at Lejjun, few enemy troops were found here, but the
Germans had an aerodrome close to the station, and this was captured
intact, with three aeroplanes and their pilots and all the mechanical
staff. A fourth aeroplane succeeded in getting away in the general
confusion. So unconscious was the enemy of the fact that our cavalry
were on the plain, that, shortly after this, an enemy aeroplane,
returning from a reconnaissance, actually landed on this aerodrome, and
was promptly captured intact with its pilot and observer!
Afule proved a valuable prize. In addition to ten locomotives and fifty
railway trucks, which were found standing in the station, there was a
fully equipped hospital, with a quantity of excellent drugs. One of the
most valuable finds was a great store of petrol, which was discovered
in an underground cave.
While the 12th Brigade was 'mopping up,' the armoured cars were having
the time of their lives chasing twelve German motor lorries down the
track leading to Beisan. They captured them all, and brought the
drivers back to the station. Unfortunately no men could be spared
to guard these lorries, and, when the 5th Division arrived shortly
afterwards, and tried to drive them back to the station, it was found
that the natives had been there in the meantime, and cut open every
petrol tank to get the spirit. They were afterwards repaired, however,
and did good service for us later on.
Having sent the prisoners back to Lejjun under a small escort, the 4th
Division pressed on towards Beisan, after cutting the railway east,
west, and south of Afule.
Riding fast all day down the Valley of Jezreel, the division reached
Beisan about half-past four in the afternoon, having rounded up another
800 prisoners on the way. The Lancers made short work of the small
garrison they met with here, galloping over the Turks, and taking 100
prisoners and three 5·9-inch howitzers. These guns were in position
to defend the town against an attack from the _east_, an eloquent
testimony to the manner in which the enemy had been deceived. Our
troops then occupied the bridge over the Jordan at Jisr el Sheikh
Hussein, and placed outposts south and east of Beisan.
The division had now marched eighty-five miles in thirty-four hours,
fought two skirmishes, and captured 1400 prisoners, but its day's
work was not yet quite finished. At six in the evening, after having
watered and fed, the 19th Lancers (12th Brigade) set out in the dark,
along a difficult mountain track west of the railway, to Jisr Mejamie,
the railway bridge over the Jordan, twelve miles north of Beisan.
This they reached and seized at dawn next morning, having covered
ninety-seven miles since the commencement of their march.
The Australians, who had left the Nahr Iskanderuneh at one o'clock in
the morning, reached Kerkur and Beidus just after dawn, and thus made
the crossing of the Carmel Range in daylight. They were rewarded by
the magnificent view from the top of the pass, across the Plain of
Esdraelon to Mount Tabor and Nazareth, and over the Nazarene hills to
the great mass of Mount Hermon, poised against the sky sixty miles to
the north-east. Scattered along the track were a number of derelict
Turkish transport wagons, which had been abandoned as they were being
driven over the pass, when the 4th Division came upon them in the
dark. Many of the Turks who had accompanied these wagons, came back to
the track after daylight, preferring capture by the British to facing
the tender mercies of their inveterate enemies, the local Arabs. In
this way the division had collected about 100 stragglers by the time
it reached Lejjun. Near the top of the pass a large gang of natives
was discovered at work on an excellently graded road, which was being
built to the village of Umm el Fahm. It appeared that the Germans
had intended to build a sanatorium there, in connection with their
hospitals at Afule and Jenin. The natives employed making the road
had gone to work as usual that morning, all unaware that the Germans
and Turks were no longer masters in the land. When they learned the
true state of affairs, their first thought was for their wages, which
had not been paid, and they were not at all grateful to us for having
driven their paymasters out of the country!
[Illustration: Before: German motor lorries at Nazareth. (From an enemy
photograph.)]
[Illustration: After: The same lorries near Afule, after our armoured
cars had finished with them.]
The division reached Lejjun at eleven o'clock, and got water for man
and horse in the beautiful little Wadi el Sitt, the 'Lady's Brook,' a
tributary of the river Kishon, hard by the ruins of an old Roman fort
and aqueduct.
Shortly after mid-day the 3rd A.L.H. Brigade, with 'A' Battery
H.A.C., resumed the march to Jenin, to intercept the enemy troops
that were expected to retire down the Dothan Pass from Nablus and its
neighbourhood. The brigade reached the town in the early afternoon,
and the leading regiment, the 10th, at once charged straight into it,
galloping over an entrenched position, and through the streets of the
town. The enemy was completely demoralised by this unexpected attack
from the rear, and made little resistance. Such opposition as was
encountered was speedily crushed, and nearly 2000 prisoners fell into
our hands. None of the troops in the place had the faintest idea that
our cavalry had even broken through their line, much less that we were
actually in the plain. The German officers, of whom there was a number
in the place, absolutely refused to believe that our troops had ridden
the whole way, and declared that we must have been landed at Haifa,
covered by our 'Wonderful Navy,' as they called it.
As soon as the prisoners had been got away, and lodged in a little
valley out of sight of the town, the hills to the south were picketed,
to prevent information getting to the enemy at Nablus, and the
remainder of the brigade was disposed by squadrons in hollows and folds
in the ground on each side of the Jenin-Afule road. The battery came
into action north-east of the town, covering the Nablus road.
As was expected, after dark the enemy began to retire from his
positions at Nablus and Samaria, and all night long his battalions
marched down the road, through Jenin, and out on to the plain.
These were not fugitives, but formed bodies of troops, retiring to
the Nazarene hills, where they had a partially prepared defence line
extending from the sea to Lake Tiberias. It was rather an eerie
experience to watch these troops, trudging wearily along the road
in the bright moonlight, all unconscious of the keen eyes of their
enemies on every side of them. As each detachment got well out into
the plain, at a given signal, the waiting squadrons sprang from their
hiding places, and charged down upon it. One can imagine the terror
of the Turks, nodding with half-closed eyes as they trudged along,
when their senses were suddenly assailed by the thunder of hoofs all
round them, and by the sight of wild horsemen, exaggerated in size by
the moonlight, charging down upon them from every side. Small wonder
that there was little resistance. Many flung themselves on the ground,
shutting eyes and ears to the horrid nightmare, and calling on Allah to
deliver them. Others threw down their rifles and held up their hands.
Each lot was quickly hustled out of sight, and the squadrons returned
to their lairs, to await the coming of the next. Only one battalion,
a German one, tried to put up any fight, and succeeded in getting a
machine gun into action, but it was ridden down at once. None of the
other German troops did any better than the Turks.
Some time during the night, information of the state of affairs at
Jenin evidently got back to the enemy in the hills about Nablus, for
the supply of prisoners suddenly ran dry. By this time the brigade
had got over 8000, and needed help in handling them. In response to
a message sent back to the divisional headquarters at Lejjun, the
4th A.L.H. Brigade, with a section of the Notts Battery R.H.A.,
left that place at half-past four on the morning of September the
21st, and marched to Jenin. An extraordinary sight met the brigade
on its arrival. The whole plain seemed to be covered with prisoners,
motor cars, lorries, wagons, animals, and stores, in an inextricable
confusion. In and out of this mass the sorely tried Australian troopers
pushed their way, sweating and swearing, every now and then riding
savagely at the hordes of natives hovering on the outskirts of the
crowd like a flock of vultures, and looting the stores that strewed
the ground; anon pressing into the throng again, to round up a group
of straying prisoners. Over all presided the stocky figure of the
brigadier,[25] like the leader of a gigantic school picnic, unhurried
and efficient.
Jenin was the enemy's main supply and ordnance depot for his VIIth and
VIIIth Armies, and very large quantities of valuable stores of all
sorts were captured here, together with several well-equipped workshops
and three hospitals. There were twenty-four burnt aeroplanes, and one
intact, on the aerodrome, and a number of engines and a quantity of
rolling stock in the station. In some caves near by were found large
stores of German beer and wine, and a lot of excellent tinned food,
and, in a wagon abandoned on the road, there were nearly £20,000 in
gold. The two troopers who were detailed to guard this money sat on the
boxes of bullion all day, without knowing what was in them, and have
been kicking themselves ever since! This gold was of the greatest use
to the Corps later on, when we were living on the country, and had to
buy all our food and forage. Among the minor captures was a quantity of
photographic negatives belonging to the official photographer with the
German forces, one of which depicted some of our guns which were lost
in the second Amman raid. Also a British motor cycle, captured from us
at the first battle of Gaza, eighteen months before.
The chief medical officer of the German hospital in the town
volunteered the information that all ranks there, German as well as
Turkish, were secretly glad to be captured. For the past ten days, he
said, British aeroplanes had hovered over the place almost continually,
and a rain of bombs had fallen all the time on the station, aerodrome,
and workshops. Most of the troops left the town every day before
dawn, and spent the hours of daylight in caves in the hills. All work
was practically at a standstill, and none of the German aeroplanes
had ever ventured to leave the ground. He was very puzzled by the
fact that we had never bombed the town itself, and, when one of our
officers replied that it was not the British custom to bomb undefended
native villages, he shrugged his shoulders and remarked that such
ideas were inadmissible in war. The Germans never brought themselves
to believe that we were serious in our determination to observe the
rules of civilised warfare in this respect. They realised, however,
that we never bombed hospitals, a fact of which they were not slow to
take advantage. Later on, when Nazareth was reoccupied, it was found
that every house that harboured German troops, which is to say nearly
every house of substance in the town, had a red cross, or its Turkish
equivalent a red crescent, painted on the roof.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 24: Brigadier-General P.J.V. Kelly, C.M.G., D.S.O., 3rd
Hussars. He commanded the Egyptian troops in the brilliantly successful
little Darfur Campaign of 1916.]
[Footnote 25: Brigadier-General L. Wilson, C.M.G., D.S.O., A.I.F.]